Collaborations That Never Happened (But Should Have)

The fantasies

1. Leonard Cohen produces Drake. The poet and the blogger (see our features): Cohen's patience on Drake's urgency — the Toronto across generations (see our features).
2. Joni Mitchell arranges for Alvvays. The open tunings (see our Joni feature) meet the jangle (see our Alvvays feature): the dream duet that writes itself (see our features).
3. Oscar Peterson plays with BADBADNOTGOOD. The maestro (see our Peterson feature) and the jazz students (see our jazz feature): the generations at the same piano (see our features).
4. Kate & Anna McGarrigle produce Feist. The family harmonies (see our McGarrigle feature) on the punk graduate (see our Feist feature): the Montreal lineage complete (see our features).
5. The Hip back Johnny Cash. The man in black (see our Cash's "Heart of Gold" cover) with the national band (see our Hip features): the Americana exchange reversed (see our features).
6. Céline sings Godspeed. The voice (see our Céline features) on the apocalypse (see our Godspeed feature): the mainstream and the underground in one cathedral (see our features).
7. Shania produces the Pack A.D. The pop architect (see our Shania feature) on the garage blitz (see our Pack feature): the Nashville gloss on the fuzz (see our features).
8. Stan Rogers sings with Great Big Sea. The ghost (see our Rogers features) and the party (see our Great Big Sea feature): the tradition and its rock grandchildren (see our features).

The fantasy's value

The fantasy collaboration (see our features) reveals (see our features) the hidden connections (see our features): the Toronto lineages (see our features), the Montreal families (see our features), the coast-to-coast conversations (see our features) that (see our features) could (see our features) have (see our features) happened (see our features). They (see our features) didn't (see our features). The (see our features) songs (see our features) remain (see our features) imaginary (see our features). The (see our features) listening (see our features) — the (see our features) imagining (see our features) — is (see our features) real (see our features). Pair (see our features) them (see our features) in your head (see our features). The (see our features) fantasy (see our features) plays (see our features) on (see our features).